


Work Jams

by Amy (InnitMarvelous), I love Tony Stark 3000 FOREVER (InnitMarvelous), InnitMarvelous, tsg (InnitMarvelous)



Series: Greatest Reward [11]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Nothing past Captain America: The Winter Soldier applies, Pepperony Bingo 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23338624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnitMarvelous/pseuds/Amy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnitMarvelous/pseuds/I%20love%20Tony%20Stark%203000%20FOREVER, https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnitMarvelous/pseuds/InnitMarvelous, https://archiveofourown.org/users/InnitMarvelous/pseuds/tsg
Summary: When a potential business partner shows up early to meet with Pepper, there's a problem, or so she thinks and she's all flustered.This is the fill forCEO Pepperon myPepperony Bingocard.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Pepper Potts
Series: Greatest Reward [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/116476
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Pepperony Bingo 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place 3 to 4 years after **Islands In the Stream**.

“Mrs. Stark, Mr. Mizushima is here to see you.”

“Repeat that, Gina.”

“I said Mr. Mizushima is here to see you.”

As her assistant spoke, Pepper called up her calendar for the week, “Can he hear what you’re saying, Gina?”

“No, ma’am. He’s sitting in the next room.”

“Okay then he’s not supposed to be here until tomorrow.”

“I know but I am sitting here looking at him through the window. He’s definitely here… a day early!” She heard her boss sigh, “Should I ask him to come back tomorrow when he’s scheduled to?”

“No, don’t!!” Pepper exclaimed before she could stop herself, “I'll meet with him. Just tell him I need a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay, will do.”

When they started up their new company, Pepper wanted to do something that her husband, not in a thousand years, ever would have been able to predict or guess she would ever want to do. At his surprised expression, she had told Tony that she had been professionally serious all of the years she’d been working and now she wanted to have a little fun with the office rules. In the end, Tony had agreed to her idea because like her he decided he wanted to have a little fun with the rules too. Now as she sat in her office thinking about the very solemn businessman sitting outside her secretary’s office Pepper could only shake her head, wondering if their fun with the rules was going to cost them a new partnership with Mizushima Enterprises.

After sitting there for a few minutes thinking, she finally pulled herself out of her thoughts, and reached over to a nearby chair to pick up the garment she put there earlier. She stood up, shrugged into it, and put a smile on her face that she hoped would at least come across as halfway being somewhat sincere, and opened her office door. 

“Konnichiwa, welcome to Stark Resilient, Mr. Mizushima,” Pepper said as pleasantly as she could, as he offered her hand to him and then held her breath to see what his response would be.

The man didn’t miss a beat and shook her hand, “Thank you, Mrs. Stark. I know that I am a day early but there are a few points about our potential partnership that I feel cannot wait to be discussed tomorrow when we…”

* * *

“And then he went on to talk about what we had previously discussed during my visits to Japan… Mmm, that feels so good.”

Tony smiled as he continued massaging his wife’s shoulders, “That’s it? He didn’t say one word about the fact you were wearing what you were wearing?” Tony asked, his voice full of bewilderment .

Pepper shook her head, “No, not one word. He just carried on like I was dressed as professionally as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company should be.”

When he heard what sounded suspiciously like self-recrimination in her voice, his hands paused their motion, and then stopped altogether. When Pepper looked at him due to the sudden lack of soothing pressure on her shoulders he said, “Honey, you’re being a little too hard on yourself, don’t you think?” He shrugged, and resumed massaging her shoulders, “If Mizushima didn’t like what he saw then he’s more than welcome to head back to Japan right now.”

“Tony!”

“Well, there are plenty of fish in the sea. While having him on board would be great, we don’t need him if he doesn’t have a sense of humor or fun.”

Pepper turned her head to look at him, “Well, I don’t think trying to maintain some professional standards when potential partners come visiting is too much to do.”

Tony was silent for a minute, continuing to work out the still present knots in her shoulders, and finally when he spoke he was to ask, “Honey, why did we start up a new company?” His eyes met her eyes in the mirror.

“What?”

“Why did we start up a new company? Why did we decide to do this?” he asked, and without waiting for her answer he continued, “We didn’t do this because we had to, but just because we wanted to. We did it because we wanted to challenge ourselves by seeing if we could build up a company to beat out the one my Dad built. But we also decided to do this because we thought it’d be fun to build a world class company from the ground up so that we could put our own spin on it. We said we wanted a company that’s made in our own image and one we could be proud to leave behind to our kids. Remember?” 

"Of course I do. It's just..."

"It's just what, Pep?"

"It's just since I started working... really working I mean, I've just always tried to keep things on the professional side.”

“And that’s exactly what you have done, honey. Mizushima’s the one who decided to show up a day early without any warning so if anyone’s not being entirely professional, then I’d say it was him.”

Pepper sighed, closing her eyes, “Maybe you’re right about this, Tony.”

“I know I am.”

“I hope so.”

“Of course I am, Pep. You’ll see.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the conclusion to this little story, enjoy!

After their talk last night, Pepper tried to forget her concerns about where things would go with the visiting Japanese CEO, figuring her husband was right. Mizushima would either accept what he saw yesterday or he wouldn’t, and if he didn’t accept it then they’d move on, seek out other partners.

Suddenly the door to her office burst open and more than one paper flew off of her desk, “Gina, what--” 

“I think we might have a big problem!”

She gave her secretary a puzzled look.

The other woman went on, “Mr. Mizushima is here.”

Pepper’s eyes widened, “Is he early again?” A glance to her clock answered that question, “No, he’s not! I’m the one who’s running late!” She stood up, grabbed her StarkPad, and came around her desk, “Where is he?”

“I left him in the conference room but… but…”

Stopping, she put a hand on the other’s arm. “Breath, Gina. Take a deep breath!” After the young women had heaved in a few deep breaths, Pepper said, “Now, tell me what’s wrong, Gina.”

With a nod and a hand resting on her chest, Gina said, “It’s Mr. Mizushima, Mrs. Stark.”

Pepper decided not to interrupt her to point out that they had already established the source of the secretary’s stress was, in fact, the Japanese business man. Instead, she kept her silence and waited for Gina to continue.

“More specifically, ma’am, it’s the way he’s dressed today. He’s wearing pajamas!”

“What did you just say?”

“I said, he’s wearing pajamas!”

"Wait, are you sure that he's not actually wearing a kimono?"

"Umm, I am ninety-nine percent sure that what he's dressed in, is not a kimono but PJs."

The entire time she was speaking, Pepper was gathering up her papers and her notes about what she wanted to talk to about with the businessman. She really hoped that when she appeared dressed in normal business attire, Mr. Mizushima wasn’t going to think they’d set him up for public humiliation. 

With everything in hand, Pepper gathered up her nerve, forced her nervousness back, and headed out her office door. Gina followed her, still talking a mile a minute about the situation. When they reached the conference room door, she paused to calm her secretary down before she opened the door. She didn’t want Mr. Mizushima to hear what the young woman was saying.

“Gina, relax! I’ve got this! One isn’t Tony Stark's personal assistant for ten plus years without learning how to deal with unexpected problems or situations. Now take a deep breath, put on your best game face, and follow me."

Following her own advice, Pepper settled her face into something she hoped resembled calm and collected, then opened the door to the conference room, “Mr. Mizushima, good morning…"

* * *

“So after seeing you, and everyone at the office dressed in their PJs yesterday, did Mizushima really show up for your meeting with him today dressed in his?”

Pepper nodded, “He really did.”

“How did you handle it?”

“Well I considered acting like everything was normal after he didn’t point out the difference but after twenty minutes of trying to act like everything was perfectly normal I couldn’t take it any longer.”

“What did you do?”

“All I did was to explain to him about how the kids’ school has a **Wear Your PJs To School Day** once a year, and how we decided we’d do the same once a month when we started up our new company.”

“And how did he respond to that?”

The biggest grin broke out onto her face, “By taking out his phone, and pulling up the cutest picture of a little girl I’ve ever seen outside our kids or their brood of cousins!”

“He’s a father?”

“Apparently so. Her name is Itsumi.”

“Huh. JARVIS, why don’t we know about his daughter?”

“Because apparently he’s worked very hard to keep her out of public knowledge,” Pepper answered before the AI could. “Anyway, he showed me a picture of his daughter going to school one day, dressed in her jammies!”

“Has he signed on with us?”

She nodded, ”Yes, he signed on.”

“So that means you were worried over nothing?”

“Yeah, it looks like I was worried over nothing… and don’t you dare say I told you so!”

“Would I do that?”

“In a word, yes!”

“I don’t do that kind of thing, do I, J?”

“Well, Sir…”

“Well, thanks for that rousing statement of support!”

“You are most welcome, Sir.”

Pepper giggled as Tony huffed and shook his head.


End file.
